Queen: Party Of Two
by starbuckfaerie21
Summary: What if Oliver & Felicity's date in 03x01: "The Calm" had gone a bit differently?
Queen, Party of Two

 **Disclaimer:** Sadly, I don't own Arrow. It belongs to DC Comics and The CW.

 **Pairing:** Oliver  & Felicity (Olicity)

 **Rating: T**

 **Summary:** What if Oliver & Felicity's date in 03x01: "The Calm" had gone a bit differently?

 **Author's Note:** Snippets of dialogue taken from the actual episode.

The Green Arrow had faced down mobsters, assassins, petty criminals, and Meracuru soldiers and he didn't get nervous.

 _The Green Arrow didn't get nervous._

But Oliver Queen was _definitely_ nervous as he stepped into the dimly lit Italian restaurant where he was meeting Felicity for dinner.

He'd come wearing The Arrow suit under his actual suit. As a precaution he'd stowed a duffel bag full of weapons and other necessities in the ventilation shaft in the rear of the restaurant near the kitchen.

He walked in nervously buttoning his jacket, and he exhaled as he stepped up to the maitre d and said, "Queen, party of two, trying to exude all the confidence that he wasn't feeling.

 _Fake it til you make it._

He thought as the maitre d nodded and replied, "Right this way."

At that moment he spotted Felicity who was already waiting at the table.

She was wearing a red dress and her blonde hair fell in soft waves to her shoulders.

Oliver noticed that she'd chosen to wear her contacts instead of her glasses.

 _With or without her glasses she looks incredible._

Seconds later, she turned and looked over her shoulder, her lips, a classic red to match her dress curved into a nervous smile as she met his eyes from across the room.

"Hi," He said softly, as he stepped closer to her pulling her into a hug.

"Hi," She said, getting to her feet as he walked towards her. She returned his embrace, but she didn't fail to notice that even when he pulled away, he never let go of her hand.

Oliver chuckled a little, as he sat down, and Felicity's eyes darted back and forth in panic.

"What?" She asked a little too quickly, and he knew that she was nervous too.

"Nothing, I'm just…"

"Nervous." She finished.

"Yeah," He agreed.

"Line forms behind me," She said, smiling again as the waiter appeared to take their drink orders.

"Scotch, neat, please." Oliver said.

"Just water for me, thanks." Felicity said.

"Are you sure?" Oliver asked, putting his hand up to make the waiter pause. "The booze might sort of help with the whole…"

"The alcohol is not going to mix well with the three benzos I took." Felicity interrupted.

"Am I being crazy? I mean what do we have to be nervous about?"

"Well, we've already exhausted every topic that one would talk about on a first date and a second date…And a third date…And _every_ date, actually. And I've already seen you shirtless…Multiple times…Shirtless all the time."

"Thank you," Oliver and Felicity said in unison as the waiter brought their drinks.

"There are still a few things that you don't know about me." Oliver said, glancing across the table at Felicity.

"Please," Felicity said, "Name one."

"The five years that I was away…I wasn't always on Lyan Yu."

Oliver was surprised by her perfectly calm reaction when she said, "I thought so. Where were you?"

"Hong Kong…for one." He answered, "And I have been thinking a lot recently about my time there. The choices that I had to make."

"Those years sound like they were filled with a whole lot of suck." Felicity said, softly.

"I'm sorry," Oliver said, nervously brushing his index fingers against his upper lip, "I'm just a little out of my element. The entire time that I was gone I could never completely trust someone. And when that goes on for so long, you stop seeing people for people. You see threats or targets. And when I decided to come home I…I just didn't know how to turn that part of me off. But then I walked into your office."

Felicity smiled a little but she stayed silent and let him continue. "You were the first person that I could see as a person."

Oliver shook his head and smiled again, "There was just something about you."

Felicity pressed her fingers against her temple, as she looked down at the surface of the table to hide her embarrassment.

"Yeah, I was chewing on a pen."

"It was red."

 _Just like her dress._

Felicity looked across the table at Oliver with a hint of a smile on her face.

 _I can't believe he remembers that._

Neither of them knew what was about to happen.

"Do you remember when I told you that because of what we do that I didn't think that I could be with someone that I could really care about?"

"Yeah," Felicity said, nodding, "I remember."

"So maybe I was wrong." Oliver replied, exhaling nervously again.

Felicity was looking at him and smiling. "Oliver are you…"

But before she could continue, Oliver was looking around and then he was suddenly on his feet, shoving the table out of the way and reaching for her and covering her body with his own as the restaurant exploded around them.

When Oliver came to the first thing he noticed was that the chandelier swinging above his head was on fire.

As he blinked into full consciousness his mind was filled with only one thought.

 _Felicity_

 _Where was she?_

 _How was she?_

 _Was she hurt?_

 _Was she alive?_

He rolled over and exhaled with relief as he spotted Felicity unconscious beside him.

He checked her pulse.

It was strong.

 _Just like her._

He lifted her into his arms and carried her to the safety of the club's basement.

He laid her down on one of the steel tables, like him her face and body were covered in ash and soot from the explosion. Her dress was burned and she was missing both of her shoes.

One side of her face was covered in blood where glass and falling debris had struck her.

"Is she okay? Roy asked, anxiously as he saw him enter the familiar blonde unconscious in his arms.

"Hopefully, she will be." Oliver replied.

"It's all over the news" Dig said, "Police and fire are on the scene."

"Yeah. I didn't think it was a good idea to stand around and answer questions."

"I think it was one of Steelgrave's crew." Oliver said, gazing from Felicity to John and Roy and back again.

At that moment, Dig's phone buzzed. He glanced at it for a second and then looked up. "I gotta go. Lila just went in labor."

Oliver nodded and sat down next to the unconscious Felicity taking her hand in both of his.

"Felicity, can you hear me? I _need_ you to wake up." He whispered, but she didn't stir.

"Well, maybe it's better that you're unconscious when you hear this because I don't want to hurt you."

"Last year, I made the decision to put Oliver Queen aside and be The Arrow. It's not a choice I get to unmake."

Oliver heard Felicity's voice in his head.

 _At the restaurant you didn't feel that way._

"I think I'm afraid of what could happen if I let myself be Oliver Queen." He whispered softly still holding her hand.

 _Oliver, the explosion wasn't your fault._

"We need to talk."

 _I don't want to talk, which for me I know is a little unprecedented. But as soon as we talk, it's over._

"I'm so sorry. I thought that I could be me and The Arrow. But I can't. Not now. Maybe not ever."

" _Then say never. Stop dangling maybes. Say it's never going to work out between us. Say you never loved me…"_

At that moment Oliver knew that he had to kiss her.

 _Maybe for the last time._

"But don't ask me to say I don't love you."

He got to his feet, took a step forward, and pressed his lips firmly against hers.

Seconds later, Felicity opened her eyes, she jumped, startled, "Oliver…" She called out, desperately.

He pulled away slightly, and laid his free hand against her arm, "Hey… It's okay. I'm here. You're safe." He whispered, pulling her close.

Felicity took a deep breath, leaned back into Oliver's arms and said, "At the restaurant… Before the explosion…You were trying to tell me something. What was it?"

In those few seconds everything that Oliver had thought about in the past few minutes ran through his mind.

And he realized that Felicity hadn't heard anything he'd said while she was unconscious.

And he realized just how wrong he'd been.

He realized that he _could_ be both Oliver Queen and The Arrow.

He realized that he _was_ both Oliver Queen and The Arrow.

He realized that he didn't have to dangle maybes after all.

Oliver pulled Felicity closer again and replied, "I just wanted to tell you that I love you."


End file.
